Snoop Dogg Signs Cypress Hill to Priority Records; First Step in Planned Arthurian-Roundtable of Hip-Hop Megastars Tasked with Defending the Realm of Def

Snoop Doggy Dogg, known worldwide as the inventor of the West Coast, was, as you already know, recently named as “Creative Chairman” of Priority Records. What this fancy title infers is that Doggy gets the resources to further whatever musical agenda he wants (as long as it makes cash for Priority). Snoop, always a man with an agenda, has decided to form a roundtable of “Hip Hop Knights” tasked with “guarding the Eternal Throne of His Highness, The Flyest, The Dopest, The King Of Hip Hop.” Snoop’s hand-picked first recruits were recently announced as hip-hop legends Cypress Hill.

“Cypress Hill is undeniably one of the most important hip hop groups in music history,” Snoop stated after announcing the newly-signed exclusive worldwide deal. “Not only are they incredibly talented and the first Latino hip hop group to go platinum, they are also from the west coast (and can totally strike down any heathen with one swing of a broad-sword) so this signing is the perfect marriage,” Snoop elaborated.

Cypress Hill will release on April 6 a new album through Priority Records, Rise Up, the band’s first in six years.

DC three-piece Trans Am have announced a new album whose title conjures an almost biblical flood of imagery and high metaphor. Yes, dear readers, prepare yourself for… Thing! What exactly is this “Thing”? What sonic mystery does it hold in store for you and I? It could be almost anything. If history is any indication, Thing will probably include some pyrotechnic guitars, laser beam synths, pulse-quickening drum work, and mind-bending album art. But who knows, we’ll all just have to wait until April 20 (the official release date on Thrill Jockey) to find out!

• “We were supposed to get some serious cash to record a soundtrack for a Hollywood sci-fi film. We never found out for sure what the project was, but Trans Am has a feeling it was the soundtrack to Avatar.”

• “Seb usually stays pretty focused and says stuff like, ‘Do the drums sound good?’ or ‘Dude, the drums aren’t really that good’ or ‘Can we just hear the drums without everything else?’ Then he goes off and checks his Facebook and Kurt turns down the drums. So that’s cool.”

• “Trans Am went through a lot to get here. We can’t worry about the music now. All we can do is bring lots of energy and do all the little things that put us in a good position to come out on top.”

Trans Am are now probably mentally preparing for a European tour during the month of May:

Clattery art-pop rookie tUnE-yArDs will embark on a spring tour with clattery art-pop veterans Xiu Xiu. tUnE-yArDs, the one-woman project of Merrill Garbus, will tour in support of her acclaimed 2009 release, BiRd-BrAiNs. Xiu Xiu, meanwhile, will be supporting the cheerfully titled Dear God, I Hate Myself, which sees release February 23 on Kill Rock Stars. Feel good hit of the spring, right there!

According to Arts&Crafts, Broken Social Scene are releasing a new, as-yet untitled album May 4. The core six members of Broken Social Scene — Kevin Drew, singer-bassist Brendan Canning, drummer Justin Peroff, guitarist Charles Spearin, singer-guitarist Andrew Whiteman, and Sam Goldberg — wrote and arranged the new record, but don’t worry: your favorite Canadian indie heroes, like Feist, Metric’s Emily Haines, and Jimmy Shaw, will be making appearances too. The album, their first since 2005’s self-titled release, was co-produced by the band and John McEntire (Tortoise) in Chicago and Toronto.

First-tier indie rockers Spoon will play a few overseas dates in February before embarking on a North American tour in mid-March. Don’t believe the “first tier” remark? Gander southwards to the tourdates listed below and tell me if you see multiple shows in the same choice US cities, ace support bands, and actual full days off between gigs? Yep, Spoon are an elite group indeed, and between shows on Valentine’s Day in Glasgow and, um, Kourtney Kardashian’s birthday at Coachella on April 18, the Austin quartet will show off its live chops in support of its latest record, the near-universally well-received albumTransference (Merge). Big and little Spoons alike will already know that their heroes will soon be on the move, but if this news story is hitting you for the first time, please note: networking may be required to attend certain Spoon shows below, as some are already sold out (i.e., both Washington, DC dates).

Fans of Lou Reed’sMetal Machine Music (or even the noisier side of The Velvet Underground) might be stoked to hear about Lou Reed’s new Metal Machine Trio featuring Ulrich Krieger and Sarth Calhoun. The trio did a back-to-back two-night gig at Blender Theatre in NYC last year and are now doing a five-day stint in Europe this April. Lou has been calling these events “A Night of Deep Noise” and will feature Lou on guitar and electronics, Ulrich Krieger on tenor sax and live electronics, and Sarth Calhoun on live processing and Fingerboard Continuum. The trio takes inspiration from Reed’s controversial 1975 album Metal Machine Music, but the performance isn’t a direct remaking, as made obvious by the trio’s instrumentation. So, anyone getting ready to call out for their favorite part of MMM are gonna be a little disgruntled when all they hear is Lou Reed actually playing his guitar opposed to pushing it up against his amp.

If you wanna hear the trio before shelling out the dough, check out the recordings from last year’s NYC events, released as The Creation of the Universe, or check out Lou’s own video of the trio here. If you’re just gonna shell out the dough either way, here are the dates: